Africa News
Tunisian man dies in self-immolation on eve of uprising anniversary
Jan 10, 2012, 11:04 GMT
Tunis - A Tunisian man has died, days after setting himself alight in the southern city of Gafsa, in protest over unemployment.
The director of the trauma unit at Ben Arous hospital on the outskirts of Tunis told dpa that Ammar Gharsallah, 43, died on Monday of his burns.
The father of one set himself alight outside the headquarters of the Gafsa governorate on Thursday.
One of his relatives told Tunisian media he became desperate after being refused a meeting with three visiting government ministers in charge of employment, industry and social affairs.
Gharsallah had been on a sit-in outside the building for several days, to protest his lack of employment.
Security was beefed up in Gafsa ahead of his funeral later Tuesday.
His death took place five days before the first anniversary on Saturday of the ouster of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Ben Ali went into exile on January 14, 2011 following a month of street protests that were triggered by the fatal self-immolation of a street vendor in the central town of Sidi Bouzid - an act that has seen a series of imitation self-immolations in recent days.
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